


The Exodus

by Huggle



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Protective Jim Gordon, Violence, Virus Jim Gordon, Zombie Apocalypse (sort of), hurt alfred pennyworth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26688199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggle/pseuds/Huggle
Summary: Jim never thought anything would make him give up on Gotham, and he carried the scars (in and out) to prove it.He was wrong.The city is lost, and all he can do now is save who he has left.
Relationships: Jim Gordon/Alfred Pennyworth
Kudos: 6
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic





	The Exodus

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a comment fic prompt.
> 
> Their deaths are ‘off screen’ but Harvey, Lee and Barbara are already gone.

Jim kept low as he ducked out of the door, down the steps and into the street. The stench still hung heavy in the air, a disadvantage, but he kept his ears open and stopped behind the nearest car until he was sure there was nobody around.

The delivery truck was across the street, abandoned at an angle, the front end flat up against the car it had ploughed into, but Jim had been checking it out almost all day.

He couldn’t see any liquid pooled underneath it. But only a close up look would tell if the vehicle was a write off. He took a last good look around and then crept over to it. 

The car had definitely taken the worst of it, the side caved in, but the truck’s solid front seemed intact. There was only one way to know for sure, and it was risky, but it wasn’t like they had a lot of options.

Checking around him once again, holding still and listening, Jim finally decided he had to chance it. He slowly opened the driver’s door, and pulled himself up behind the wheel. The key was still in the ignition, and he closed his fingers around it, trying to ignore how slick they were.

He turned the key, his whole body feeling taut to the point of snapping, and then the engine gave a low rumble that seemed horribly loud in the otherwise quiet street.

Jim glanced quickly at the dash, saw the tank was nearly full, and hurriedly turned the engine back off.

It fell silent, and he waited, eyes scanning what he could see from the windscreen, the side mirrors.

And he listened.

But there was nothing; no nerve shredding cries, no sound of pounding feet. Nothing came running at him out of the shadows.

Lucky, again, but he knew luck wouldn’t be enough to get them out of this.

He took the key just in case and then retreated to the building.

++

“What do you think?”

Jim had left Selina and Bruce to pack up what supplies they’d salvaged; he crouched beside Alfred and gently removed the dressing over his shoulder.

It was still oozing blood, but not as bad as before.

“If the roads are clear, we’ll be fine. If not, the truck’s big enough to clear a path, or we do it by hand.

Alfred snorted. “With a horde of those things on us. The minute we start that truck, they’ll come like you rang the dinner bell.”

Jim taped the dressing back down, and grabbed the bottle of water by Alfred’s side. He twisted off the cap, and pressed the rim to Alfred’s lips.

“Drink,” he said. ‘You need to keep your fluids up.”

Alfred did, but his eyes never left Jim’s. When he was done, he said, “You’d be better taking the kids and going on foot.”

Jim was already shaking his head; he knew what came next and it just wasn’t happening, but there was no shutting the other man up.

“You know it makes sense. I’ll slow you down, that’s if I don’t…”

Jim dropped to his knees, and pressed his forehead to Alfred’s. “You’re crazy if you think Bruce would let us leave without you. You’re an idiot if you think I would.”

“You promised to protect him. Them.”

“I can do that,” Jim said. “And I can protect you, too.”

He could before. He could do it even more, now.

“And the bite?”

Jim shook his head. “We don’t even know if it can be passed on like that. Or at all.”

“You’re the bloody idiot,” Alfred said. “There’s no way everybody caught it in the rain.”

Jim didn’t answer him. He wasn’t going to argue because nothing was going to make him leave a single member of his family behind.

He’d already lost Harvey. Lee. Barbara. He wasn’t losing Alfred or the kids. 

Bruce came up, a rucksack strapped tight to his back. Selina had one too; Jim felt bad about them having to be so weighed down, but his hands were going to be full, and the truck was only across the street.

“We’re ready.”

Jim nodded. He slipped his gun into his belt, and pulled Alfred to his feet before turning so his back was to the Englishman.

“I’m not climbing on you like a bloody monkey,” Alfred said. He coughed, the sound wet and painful.

“Well, the longer you take to get on, the longer we’re standing here,” Jim said. “And the better the chance of us getting discovered. Alfred.”

Alfred sighed. Then he reached his arms over Jim’s shoulders (Jim didn’t miss the stifled moan as he raised his left arm) and managed to lock first one leg then the other around Jim’s hips.

Jim shifted him into a better position before grabbing his gun again.

“Let’s go,” he said, and led them out of the door.

++

They were halfway to the truck when Jim held up his hand, closed his fingers into a fist.

The kids stopped, and Jim squeezed Alfred’s wrist in warning.

Someone was in the truck. He could see the shadow, nothing else, but the odd movements told him it wasn’t some other survivor looking for transport, or even a looter.

He looked around, but the rest of the street was still.

All the same, where there was one…

He beckoned the kids forward, and set Alfred down, holding him steady until Bruce and Selina could pull his arms over their shoulders and take his weight.

He looked worse than ever, and Jim felt his throat tighten up. But he forced himself to turn around, and heard Bruce and Selina supporting Alfred as they moved to the back of the truck.

Once they were out of sight, Jim put his gun away. It was always going to be a last resort, because he only had one clip, and because even a single shot might bring too much attention.

He wouldn’t need it, anyway.

He closed the distance to the cab quick and quiet, and hauled himself inside before the man… _what used to be a man_ , he reminded himself...turned towards him.

His pupils were circled with a blood red ring, skin streaked with purple veins, and then he opened his mouth to shriek. Before he could, Jim grabbed him, yanked his head around so hard that the sound of his neck snapping was painfully loud.

The body slumped down, and he hauled it out and dumped it on the ground.

And then he heard Bruce yelling his name.

++

Two of them were at the back of the truck.

Jim reached them as one of them screamed; within seconds he heard an answering cry that sounded one or two streets over at best, and that meant they were out of time.

He grabbed the closest of the two by the neck and threw it away from the truck, heard the thump as it hit the ground hard, but knew it would be back on his feet in moments.

The other one launched itself at him, and Jim swung his fist into an uppercut that pulverised its jaw, knocking its head back into an angle that broke bone and tore nerves and blood vessels.

It dropped, and Jim turned to face the one that came running at him.

Something came flying over his shoulder, and he saw the thick hilt of a knife sticking out of the poor bastard’s eyeball. When it fell, Jim was tempted to grab the knife (they might need it) but he didn’t want something potentially contaminated near the kids.

And they was just no time. 

He looked up at Alfred, at the empty scabbard on his waist, and then Alfred’s eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled.

Jim leapt into the truck, catching him in time, but the shrieks were closer, now.

He tossed the key to Selina. “Can you drive a truck?”

She didn’t answer. She jumped down and a moment later the engine was rumbling and they were backing up, turning around and pulling away.

Somebody grabbed the tailgate, and Jim booted them in the face, knocking them off. More gave chase, but Selina put her foot down, and they were soon left behind.

Jim helped Bruce get Alfred settled, and then removed the dressing again. It clung tackily to the wound, and he could see the same purple veins spreading outward.

“He’ll be alright, won’t he?”

Jim looked at the boy beside him. Trying so hard to be strong but he was still a child and now he was faced with losing a father for the second time.

Jim turned back to Alfred. He didn’t know how, but some way he’d make sure Alfred survived this. 

He had, and yes, it was different for him, but Alfred was stronger than he was. 

“Yes,” Jim said. And then prayed to a God he didn’t believe in not to make a liar out of him to this kid, again.


End file.
